


Captain

by venefica_aura (crankyoldman)



Category: Final Fantasy VIII
Genre: F/M, Gift Fic, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-11-28
Updated: 2009-11-28
Packaged: 2017-10-03 22:53:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 681
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23116
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crankyoldman/pseuds/venefica_aura
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She had to know that something hadn't changed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Captain

**Author's Note:**

> For [](http://lassarina.livejournal.com/profile)[**lassarina**](http://lassarina.livejournal.com/) for a "comfort zone" meme (Seifer/Quistis, "harsh truths"), which was good, as I've never actually held much fondness for Seifer/Quistis (even if I've enjoyed a few good ones here and there). But it let me meta, mostly about things [](http://drakonlily.livejournal.com/profile)[**drakonlily**](http://drakonlily.livejournal.com/) and I talk about. Inspired far too much by the song "Captain" by Dave Matthews Band, hence the title. I could have made this longer by writing out the, ah, porn, but I'm not like that. Hopefully this fits your request, Rina?

The harsh truth was, neither of them were Squall Leonhart.

They had both dealt with it in interesting ways--she had tried to be with him, and he had tried to obliterate him. The hardest truth was that Squall couldn't have become Squall without their collective antagonism and support; she with her back row watching and he with the brief all-seeing eyes of a Knight.

It was the oldest thing in the book, like the stories they didn't quite remember from Matron. Only one person got to be a hero, only one person got to be a heroine, these were the rules, and they didn't exactly fit in that plan. It was either get over it or get through it, and that was what had gotten them to this point.

"You have to be on vacation, because I just don't see you skipping out on the Great SeeD Hope."

Nothing had changed really, except for fate's favorite son not standing between them. She had expected him to have moved on from Fisherman's Horizon by now--it had been years, the sky was not so red now that the debris had finally cleared from the atmosphere--but instead he had become like a rock, the barnacles of a scraggly beard and worn cotton clothes making him nearly unrecognizable. The nub of a cheap cigar left ashes down his front and even changed the way he spoke.

"I just came to check on you." He would take it as an insult and she kind of hoped he would. Quistis wouldn't have been there if not for Rinoa, who had learned from Selphie all the ways to ask with as much innocence and sincerity as possible.

"Well then let me show you around my home," he said, expansively, waving his arms a bit as if the little boat were much bigger, "I think you get the idea."

Ever since she'd stopped junctioning, the memories came at the strangest times. Seifer had always been loud and over-confident, a half formula for heroics. As she thought about her hesitance and all the things that had always held her back, she wondered if they were really meant to be one person that had just gotten split in half, and since it hadn't happened right, their shadows had gotten the job instead.

It would have been easier if she could be bitter about it, instead of whatever this was. Maybe it was blue.

"This isn't you."

Of course, she was the sort to get over things and get through the rest. She'd never really thought of what would happen if limitless passion in a person ran out. They'd all changed so much, _all_ of them, except for her and the captain of this little boat. And it was more because the war had ended than it had happened at all. Quistis had stood silent, strong, whatever the word was for it. She was a teacher, really, but the worst thing about being a teacher was that students eventually didn't need her anymore.

"Would you like to tell me what _is_ me, then?" _Know-it-all_. She knew it was there, that insult, and if he weren't one of _them_ she would have pulled out her whip and taught him some manners. But things had gotten almost lonely--not that she would admit that, not _ever_\--since everyone had all grown up. Rinoa was in meetings and Squall was creating missions and Selphie and Irvine and... and...

If they couldn't meld into the perfect person that they were meant to be, she would try the nearest thing. Hopefully no fish would try and eat that nub of a cigar after she threw it into the ocean.

\---

The question of burnt out passion had been answered, and it was true that even when she tied his arms behind his back that it couldn't be brought back by her. There was a comfort in that, like knowing that when she got back things would be as they were and she could focus on self-perfection again without having to wonder what had really happened.


End file.
